Dear Susanna,
I note this e-mail from you at 10.09 last night. I have slept well on your prior response. Clearly your attention to your duties as clerk for 12 years to the Haccombe with Combe PC (HcC) goes well beyond the usual. Perhaps you regard your initial acceptance of my application to fill one of two long standing vacancies as of some importance to the function of this PC, and the perverse reversal since.
I am copying this quite widely. I know that although people generally do not like 'rocking the boat', there are citizens in the HcC parish who are very concerned with the doings of the HcC PC - over years. You know I have brought evidence of that to you as clerk since 2012. Bias against the general good is clear to a fair bystander. The response to my reporting of the vandalism regarding the restoration of an ancient buddle by me with paid labour for public good, by the new owner of Cow Field up Barcombe Lane, is the latest. The PC response is anodyne at least, and I would say firmly biased in general favour of wider, gross vandalism by him. There is photographic evidence of that on file - my disc and another, but the attaching key ones take too long in the sending by e-m.
It goes without saying that you are clerk, going back you say over 12 years, to a public authority and forum. I have suffered great distress, now shortly to be 82, as a result of the malicious intent to do with the Ancient Drove Track that borders my wood pasture of 18 acres on its west. And spent hundreds of hours writing in vain to you as clerk, as well as continuing to care for the track, often with paid labour. I have done this since about 1980, six years before I purchased this land from Martin Boyd. This as you know involved restoring the two buddles so it became a good foot and bridle path, rather than a deep V. That allowed older citizens to enjoy the nature in the banks, and the beauty of the trees. Sadly, the wide trampling by 4x4s which PC directly facilitated has contributed by introducing root disease into often majestic wild cherries/geans. The few that remain standing are now dead. You will also know that there are three extant crime numbers relating to this track, generated by myself. The most relevant to me is the criminal damage done to the ancient hedge bank I own, and care for. The erstwhile chairman, and present deputy chairman, Mr Tim Boarer, has driven his own vehicle up this beautiful track, and widened it at points with a mini-digger hired from him and paid for from public funds. ie HcC PC account.
These links on my website refer - for my ease copied thus - search 'drove track' on https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk
1. Ancient drove track above Gulmswell Farm, Combe-in-Teignhead in South Devon
(Planning Matters)
Ancient drove track above Gulmswell Farm, Combe-in-Teignhead in South Devon. Video taken before removal of steel posts set in about 2000 to stop 4x4s drivers destroying the track. The second - an interview ...
Created on 15 October 2020
2. Drove track. Arson 2-06-2020 My fear of further arson. Stalking of me.
(Our Garden & Woods)
... Rowlands had walked up the drove track, and then right up to No Man's Land a week or two after the 'fire', with two parish councillors. I will do so but should be grateful for your help as numbered below. ...
Created on 13 October 2020
3. Burned out Ford Focus: Risk of toxic contamination
(Our Garden & Woods)
... do not ingest toxic chemicals. The second is the risk of toxic chemicals being carried down the ancient drove track, down the restricted byeway and into the Dod stream, and thence into the Teign Estuary ...
Created on 09 July 2020
4. Re: CAR FIRE - VV006111-02062020
(Our Garden & Woods)
... complicit with Dr Fox and the H with Combe PC in allowing, indeed encouraging, the use of this Ancient Drove Track by 4x4s. As the PC knows, I have cared for this since about 1980, and first restored ...
Created on 24 June 2020
The two 3 minute videos in the first link - before in 2011 by 'head cam' of aggressive trail bikers (found by my brother Peter), and after HcC intervention in 2012, and the culmination of the malicious campaign by HcC PC. Finishing with the arson of a Ford Focus at the closest point to my fine linhay, with an inferno of over 760 C, responded to 2-06-2020 by 2 off road fire teams plus a large fire vehicle. The wreck could only be lifted from this deep gulley by an agricultural handler. All that was done to get the wreck to the highway was done voluntarily with no help from TDC and the Environmental Agency. The police did not register this as a crime. I learned later that they are advised to avoid attending vehicle fires because of toxic contamination. I was very aware of this as a doctor, hence my contacts with Mr Peter Ball, head of the Environmental Agency Devon. Fobbed off. No help was given by TDC, except for long delayed approval of a £50 payment to Allparts of Exeter to remove the wreck.
In preparation for the HcC PC meeting, please respond now to the following -
ONE. Acknowledge receipt of my e-mail bringing a copy of the letter published in the MDA about 6 weeks ago. For your ease, attached again with typos corrected. bcc to part-time clerk of Bishopsteignton PC.
TWO. Please confirm that you have circulated it by e-m to the PC members who should have noted this especially - quote
It is obvious on several grounds that a new application must be submitted.
THREE I asked you a few months ago how letters were archived by yourself as clerk, and I believe, how any citizen could get sight of such. I recall that Peter Williams, solicitor with Harold Mitchelmores, and clerk for most of the years I served on the PC, bound in the correspondence within the typed or written minutes. Please answer these two questions. I have all e-mails filed re the drove track, but no good clerk/secretary for many years.
FOUR Did HcC PC members meet with the new owner of Cow Field to discuss the illegal tipping of spoil and litter? If so, the relevant minute please.
I will not trouble you further at present re other unanswered questions, nor requests eg my request for payment of about £170 for repairing two small part of the damage done to my hedge bank by the 4x4s, refused via yourself. My own labour not charged for re the turf hedging.
I finish by saying that a neutral observer might say that the HcC responses since 7-03-2022 are to do with gerrymandering.
for truth and for the preservation of our wonderful heritage. The farming adage - 'leave the land as good as you found it'.
David Halpin MB BS FRCS 01364 661115 Kiln Shotts, Haytor, Newton Abbot TQ13 9XR
All to be posted on my website.
All to be posted on my website.
On 30/03/2022 10:09 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
David,
I have clearly explained my email of 10 March and the reason this has now changed. You have not been co-opted. Voting will take place on 6 April. Councillors will only be considering candidates who have submitted an application form. The deadline is tomorrow.
Regards
Suzanna (no ‘h’)
On 30 Mar 2022, at 21:43, David Halpin <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:
Dear Suzannah,
'Disingenuous' was inappropriate, and I apologise. But what you set out in this most recent e-mail does not 'sit' with this previous e-mail from you -
On 10/03/2022 11:48 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
David,
As you have confirmed your eligibility and assuming you are happy to represent the Urban or Hawthorne ward (do you have a preference?), members will co-opt you at the start of April’s meeting. You will immediately join the meeting as a member. Will you be able to attend April’s meeting? (6th April at 7.30pm in Combeinteignhead Village Hall).
I will attend the 6th April meeting with my co-option confirmed as above, and take part in the vote for co-option to the one remaining vacancy.
It is interesting that within two weeks of your confirmation of my co-option, there was a little surge in interest in joining the PC. That is good of course. Especially so when there had been long standing vacancies, and perhaps some resignations.
Incidentally, has the matter of my co-option been discussed with each PC member? However, an election for the full council is what is needed. You will recall my requesting resignation leading to that, along with several questions that remain unanswered.
kind regards
David
On 30/03/2022 7:35 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
Dear David,
When the number of applicants does not exceed the number of vacancies, a new member (provided they are eligible) would be co-opted in at a meeting of the Parish Council; they would then immediately join that meeting as a Parish Councillor. This would have been the situation when I wrote to you on 10 March. I was trying to helpfully outline the process as it stood at that time. I do not have the authority to co-opt you. Co-option takes place at a meeting, not between meetings. You are therefore not a Councillor until you are formally co-opted at a meeting of members.
Since that email, we received more interest. Perhaps the lifting of Covid restrictions, the resumption of face to face meetings and a general desire to become involved in the community again precipitated this which, in local government, is very encouraging.
With more applications than vacancies, the Council now needs to vote on those casual vacancies. A fair process is to ask each candidate to submit the same information hence the request for you to complete a short application form with some background information and reasons for wanting to become a Councillor. The same has been asked of the other applicants.
So to be clear, in order to be considered for one of the vacancies, you will need to complete an application form (copy attached) and return it to me by 31 March, as requested in my email of 23 March. Members will then vote at the Parish Council meeting on 6 April. A successful candidate must have received an absolute majority vote of those present and voting, and each vacancy must be filled by a separate vote/series of votes.
Finally, I object to being called disingenuous. I have worked as Clerk to this Parish Council for over 12 years and have always acted professionally, openly and honestly.
Regards
Suzanna (no 'h')
On Tue, 29 Mar 2022 at 16:04, David Halpin <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:
I have a different view Suzannah,
I know from folk in the village that the PC has been appealing for people to join for months. I saw the notice you posted at the VH dated in October. It is perfectly clear that my lone application was accepted. You asked me which ward I wished to represent. And I did do, using the word privilege.
Therefore, I will be turning up as a new member of the PC on the 6th of April at 7.30, but with many years in the past as a member, and one time chairman, of the same parish council. More than that, just as Sue and I love this parish of Ilsington, I continue to have the deepest affection for Combe, and show my love of its landscapes and nature, by working with good men in my woods there. My commitment and truthfulness has never been doubted, neither in the hospitals, nor in the communities I have served as a specialist.
Any more 'snakes and ladders', and I will bring this correspondence to the Standards Committee of TDC. And call for a long needed election to the council.
I would not have called you disingenuous before - "I should have stated that your immediate co-option would be subject to there being no more than two applications."
On the 6th of April, I will be one among the other HcC parish councillors, voting for the one eligible human to fill the one remaining vacancy.
yours sincerely
David (Halpin MB BS FRCS)
On 29/03/2022 3:20 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
David,
The form you completed was to confirm your eligibility to stand. Now that we have more applications than vacancies, I am asking all interested parties to complete an application form. As there will have to be a vote, and not all members of the Council know all of the applicants, this is the fairest process. At the time of writing to you on 10 March, there were no other applicants; I should have stated that your immediate co-option would be subject to there being no more than two applications.
I look forward to receiving your application form.
I will be drafting the agenda in the next couple of days.
Regards
Suzanna
On 29 Mar 2022, at 14:54, David Halpin <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:
Dear Suzannah,
I am puzzled, especially given your clear efficiency. I applied to join the PC having been told there were two vacancies, after having established that I was eligible. I completed the form you sent me - except for the electronic signature, but the origin of that e-mail and the attached completed form was obvious. You will see the relevant response from you below in bold. I repeat -
"You will immediately join the meeting as a member."
When I had your more recent e-mail 23-03 - whilst dealing with 190 + in my inbox after our holiday I assumed you referred to the one remaining vacancy, and thus I had no need to respond.
The e-mail I sent you yesterday 28-03 makes my position, and yours I believe, clear. Here it is - in italics -
Dear Suzannah,
I look forward to the meeting 6-04. I see the agenda is not yet up. (Good website) I should be grateful for inclusion of this desecration, tied to unlawful action, and with zero public knowledge before TDC 'planners' decision. Others have made their feelings and detailed knowledge known. I could add current photos but they are too byte rich.
You might have seen this letter from me published in the MDA about 6 weeks ago. If there is a need for a campaign to inform, and encourage public response, I will set up a post on my web site https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/ with photos and the history of Charlecombe Mill Top Farm and the 'planning' to do with it. There is no doubt this is the template being followed at Cow Field. You will have the file number. I prefer the farmer's name. The landscapes in Combe must be considered sacrosanct.
You will know Sue and I have done my best to enhance this, and help the wild life. The wood pasture in particular becomes ever more beautiful. A star 'tree' is in flower - in fact petals now falling. Beauty often transitory. Attached - Magnolia campbellii - a seedling from the Trewithin Gardens in Cornwall about 20 years ago. Intend to see it propagated -its columnar habit special.
with kind regards
David.
..........................
Please confirm that Cow Field is on the agenda. And I attach again the completed form I filed 7-03-2022. You are not asking me to play 'snakes and ladders' are you !?
kind regards
David
Sent 11-03-2022
Thank you Suzanna. I would be happy, and privileged, to represent the 'urban' ward. I am very likely to be able to attend the PC meeting on the 6th of April, a week + before my 82nd birthday.
BTW - I was very tickled to see that some good people were serving coffee two mornings a month in the HF pavilion. Sue might well like to attend now and again. cc
Quorum noted!
1 and 4?
with kind regards
David
ps Off for a welcome week in Cornwall, where we spent a year in my training - 1973. Andrew 10 and Fiona 8 then I think. Some very happy memories.
On 10/03/2022 11:48 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
David,
As you have confirmed your eligibility and assuming you are happy to represent the Urban or Hawthorne ward (do you have a preference?), members will co-opt you at the start of April’s meeting. You will immediately join the meeting as a member. Will you be able to attend April’s meeting? (6th April at 7.30pm in Combeinteignhead Village Hall).
Suzanna
PS. A quorum is 3 or a third of the total seats (whichever is greater) so in Haccombe-with-Combe’s case it is 4.
David, Received 10-03-2022
As you have confirmed your eligibility and assuming you are happy to represent the Urban or Hawthorne ward (do you have a preference?), members will co-opt you at the start of April’s meeting. You will immediately join the meeting as a member. Will you be able to attend April’s meeting? (6th April at 7.30pm in Combeinteignhead Village Hall).
Suzanna
PS. A quorum is 3 or a third of the total seats (whichever is greater) so in Haccombe-with-Combe’s case it is 4.
On 29/03/2022 1:43 pm, Suzanna Hughes wrote:
David,
I trust you received my email below?
Suzanna
Begin forwarded message:
From: Suzanna Hughes <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 23 March 2022 at 19:47:58 GMT
To: David Halpin <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Subject: Casual Vacancies: Haccombe-with-Combe Parish Council
Dear David
We have received some more interest from local residents to join the
Parish Council as a co-opted member. The number of applicants now
exceeds the number of vacancies. This means that members will have to
vote in any new members.
We are therefore requesting that a short application form is completed
by all applicants so that prior to voting, members have some
information about each applicant and their reasons for applying.
I attach an application form for your completion and return to me
before 31 March. Could you also let me know whether you are happy to
be considered for both the Urban and Hawthorn wards or whether you
have a particular preference.
Many thanks
Suzanna
